Sannin: Loyal Snake, Crazy Slug, Drunk Toad
by SashaSeer
Summary: So, you all know the Sannin right, well this is still them, just slightly... Different... AU Oneshot(ish) of the Sannin's roles/personalities/quirks swapped, original premise from ABitterPill's fanfic challenge 'Sannin Role-Swap'. Will try to make it it Team 7 centric in later chapters


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor this idea. Masashi Kishimoto and ABitterPill do, respectively. I do, however, own this scenario.

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_**So, story time I guess? Well whatever, let's get this train wreck underway shall we? Take a seat. Ok, you all know of the Sannin right? No? What the hell, if you don't know who they are then why the hell did you open up a story with the word **_**'Sannin' **_**in the damned title? Jeez, never get the easy gigs do I? Alright think extremely powerful ninjas, 3 of them to be exact. Yeah, 3, that's how they got their name, 3 ninjas, Sannin. Argh whatever. Anyways each of them had their own animal motif, but also their own distinct personalities and quirk: Orochimaru, the snake, was an immortality obsessed, power hungry scientist, Tsunade, the slug, was a terrible gambling, medic princess, and Jiraiya, the toad, was a perverted, book writing spy master. Another interesting fact was that each of them had their own heir to their legacy, you may have heard of them: Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto, respectively. Right ok, well did you know that most of what defined the Sannin (their goals, personas, quirks, students, etc) actually comes from an event early on in their lives, back during their Academy days (or in Tsunade's case even before that)? Seriously. Orochimaru was twisted by his ROOT training after his parents died, Tsunade was taught how to gamble by her Grandfather, and Jiraiya was an extremely early bloomer after discovering a certain type of magazine in the garbage one day.**_

_**Ok so your probably asking why I'm going over this, you probably want to start reading the fic now right? Well that's because this fic isn't about them, no this fic is about what they could have been if those three events happened…**_

_**A little differently…**_

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_**Konoha (many years earlier) – Tsunade:**_

Grandpa Hashi was always good to the young Tsunade: he was funny, he was awesome, he always had time for her (even with his role as village leader/Hokage), and he even gave her candy. Young Tsunade's parents didn't approve, but what she didn't know was that it was part of a compromise between her grandparents; Hashirama originally wanted to give his granddaughter money, even teach her some fun games (specifically those found in a gambling house), but her grandmother, a one Mito (née Uzumaki) Senju, didn't want her little angel to get so attached to money, so instead he gave her candy (and maybe a little bit of gambling).

But what young Tsunade found the best thus far about her grandpa Hashi was that he told the most incredible stories. He told stories about how he saved the lives of so many people, about he made the trees grow that made up the village, and about how he tamed even mighty demons with his power. In short, what Hashirama Senju told the young Tsunade, was tales about the Mokuton (Wood Release).

Now if Hashirama had had his way, and gave his adorable granddaughter money, she would've been so focus on how much she had, and how she could have gotten more to even care that much about the Mokuton. Oh sure, she would have known that it was a family trait that only popped up every so-and-so generations of the Senju clan, and that it was what made her grandfather one of the strongest ninjas of any era, but it wasn't something she possessed, so she couldn't use it to help her gamble. However, without the distraction of the great god of wealth Money-sama to divert her attention, the young Tsunade was enraptured by the capabilities of the Mokuton, and of what she herself could do with it, which is why after every story session, the young Tsunade would say, in that adorable way children at her age did, "Grandpa, when I grow up, I'm gunna use the Mokuton too." and all those present would laugh in that way adults do when a child tells them an impossible dream, and reply with "Of course honey, of course…"

If only they had known…

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_**Hokage Tower (ten years later) – Orochimaru:**_

Outside the office of the Hokage, sat a dark haired, pale skinned, yellow eyed youth by the name of Orochimaru; the genius member of Team Hiruzen, the Hokage's own team of ninja. It had been a harsh couple of years for the prodigy. Graduating at the top of his class in the Academy, having THE Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi 'the Professor', as his mentor, along with having complementary teammates to boot, should have had the slightly monotone boy over the moon with joy. Yet that very same week had been the absolute worst. Orochimaru had lost his parents at such a young age that it had broke the poor child (though it still wasn't as bad as what would happen not some 40 odd years later). He could hear his teacher's words of comfort to him every time he recalled their passing.

Yet if that weren't bad enough, Orochimaru had almost immediately been drafted into the hidden section of Konoha's ANBU unit; ROOT. It had happened at a time when the rest of his team was off on a mission (Orochimaru had been on mandatory grief leave), Orochimaru had just finished eating for the night, and before he could clean up his entire world went dark. Waking up, the pale skinned boy found he was underground, face to face with a member of the Konoha council, and ex-teammate of his own sensei, Danzo Shimura.

Sitting there, waiting to be called in for who knew what, Orochimaru still couldn't remember the reason behind the decision, but he did recall that after he had woken up that night, he had started his training as a ROOT agent. Though the training hadn't been easy, especially with the sporadic amount of time he had to train (what with his team missions interrupting it all), yet even he could tell, it was changing him. Orochimaru had brought his concerns to his ROOT assigned brother, but nothing more had been said about it, yet if his current predicament was any indication, then that had been the wrong decision.

"The Hokage will see you now." the pleasant voice of the Third's secretary came, awakening Orochimaru from his musings back to the situation at hand, chastising himself for being so easily distracted from his surroundings as he headed inside.

At this time the Hokage's office had yet to fully become something of Hiruzen's: if one looked closely they could still see elements of not only the Second, but also the First Hokage lingering around, certain books or scrolls that Hiruzen had yet to change with something else. Yet aside from all that, there was definitely a large influence that the Sarutobi had brought to the place, small things that made it seem less like one was facing the leader of a militant organisation, and more of the welcoming atmosphere of a kind principle of a school. That moment however, Orochimaru felt as if he had entered into the middle of a gorilla nest, and was being stared down by a very powerful, very agitated, and very dangerous alpha male. If he had completed his ROOT training, Orochimaru would've been able to stomach such an experience, maybe even laugh it off, whilst keeping his own edge of danger, especially if the fruits of the training were laid out for all to bear. But that is neither here nor there, and Orochimaru is barely able to maintain his usual level of detached disinterest that had become the mask he showed those not affiliated with ROOT.

"Orochimaru…" his teacher, his idol said, in a tone that conveyed the seriousness of this spontaneous meeting. Today was a day where the team was free of both missions and training, and Orochimaru's ROOT training wasn't to start for a few more hours at least.

When his student didn't make any sort of response, Hiruzen continued with "I know about your involvement with Danzo's ROOT program."

Still no response, not that the Third expected one, merely false hope that it wasn't too late for the boy.

_No, I will not fail him…_

With a breath to calm himself, Hiruzen merely looked his student in the eye and said "I can also see what must have led you to seek out Danzo's methods…" Needless to say Orochimaru was confused, and would've corrected his sensei, were it not for the seal that Danzo had placed upon his tongue preventing any information about ROOT being leaked to one not affiliated with the program.

"Which is why I will be teaching you privately, along with your training alongside the rest of the team." the Third continued, noting that this resulted in a crack in his student's mask, as Orochimaru, for the briefest of moments, was shocked by the declaration.

_I just hope I can save him from the dark path he treads…_ Hiruzen thought to himself, unaware of the ripples he had made with that one decision, for no one had ever enlightened him to the simple truth of his desire; when you save one life, you are, inadvertently, damning another…

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_**Outside Konoha (a few years later) – Jiraiya:**_

Jiraiya was an odd kid growing up. Oh sure he liked all the same stuff as other boys did at that age: slimey things, creepy things, disgusting things… boy stuff. Included in this list of boy things was his discovery of girls, yet unlike the other members of his gender in the same age group, who would either hit, play pranks on, or even embarrass the girls they liked, just so that they get noticed (not realising that it was for all the wrong reasons, which was why pretty boys, like Orochimaru, were the objects that the girls fawned over instead of them), Jiraiya would instead, whilst others were around, act brash, and somewhat cold to everyone, yet kind and sensitive when he had managed to have some private time with one of the girls he fancied. Sometimes this tactic worked, and sometimes it didn't (Tsunade, and bookworms like her being the obvious examples). All in all, he would have a typical Casanova, save for the fact that he wasn't even ten years old at the time.

The reasons for this type of womanising attitude was all due to a book he had found one day in the garbage as he was walking home. It wasn't anything special, just a simple romance novel (of the Shoujo variety), yet it heavily influenced his understanding of how men treated women, to the point that after a couple of years, had become the perfect 'Trouble but Cute, Jerk with a Heart of Gold' type. This also had helped him, slightly, in his capabilities as a ninja, since his role had required him to become smarter and more talented than he had been, which had elevated him to, maybe not top of the class, but at the very least not amongst the 'dead-last' category, which on the whole, elevated the over-all team's capabilities. Thus, when it had come their turn to take the chunin exams, Team Hiruzen had all managed to get their vests the very same year (though it did take Tsunade and Jiraiya a second try for them to get theirs).

After a couple years more experience, along with Hiruzen-sensei spending even more time than usual with Orochimaru, and thus neglecting Tsunade and Jiraiya himself (not that Jiraiya was jealous of his best bud, it allowed the Princess and the Casanova time for their own stuff, which in Jiraiya's case was more training to improve his skills, so as to boost his chances of wooing women), meant that it was now time for Jiraiya to take that prophesised journey.

It had been years since he had accidentally discovered the homeland of the toads, yet his luck, and his charms had allowed him to not only learn about the secrets of senjutsu, but also led to the toads allowing him to sign the summoning contract for them, along with giving the boy an audience with the Great Toad Sage himself. It was during that audience, that the eldest of all toads foretold of a prophecy involving Jiraiya, one where he would traverse the many roads of the land learning various things, write a book that would touch the hearts of those most important, and train a child, one who would have far reaching changes to the world, and his methods would decide whether those changes be for good or ill.

Whilst the ominous nature of the end of the prophecy didn't really give him the best of feelings, Jiraiya was excited about the rest: experiencing new things, writing grand tales that's move the hearts of the greatest of people, and train up the most important person in the world. If that didn't boost his rep, then nothing would.

_Besides, I've always wanted to be a writer…_

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**A/N:**

**So yeah, the beginning of a new one-shot (probably, maybe, mostly notish). Now onto a few things, well four things really.**

**#1 – The idea: This is actually a part of a fic challenge set by ABitterPill whom wanted to see the role swap of the Sannin. Whilst originally ABP wanted it to be Jiraiya's like Orochimaru, Orochimaru's like Tsunade, and Tsunade's like Jiraiya, I didn't like that, so I used the opposite version (ie Jiraiya is like Tsunade [pre therapy no jutsu from Naruto], Orochimaru is like Jiraiya [though with a more proactive spy network], and Tsunade is like Orochimaru [with more of an emphasis on the Senju side than the Uchiha]). Because of this, I may have them train a different member of Team 7, though maybe not… I haven't really gotten beyond where I want them to be, by canon time at least. Anyway this is the preface, basically to explain where the personality shifts occurred in each of them, before we get to Team 7, so ABitterPill just wait for that yet.**

**#2 – The future of this fic: Meh, no idea. The challenge was to center the fic around Team 7 and how the changes to the Sannin affect them, but I may show how each member of Team 7 now meets up with their Sannin next chapter, then the chapter after that, show how they would've changed via the timeskip training with them, unless I think of anything else that might be used as filler, that is the long and short of this fic; 3 main chapters, and possibly some filler. This isn't a long term idea, mostly because I still have 'Otra Ves' and 'Return to Zero' to do. Hell I only wrote this because I'm kinda stuck in a conversation in OV.**

**#3 – Continuity: Ok this is more of a pre-emptive answer, mostly because of something I have planned for later on down the line (if I can finish Chapter 2 of OV that is), but short answer No, long answer Yes. Basically this is a story being told by one of the crew, but the events of the story have no correlation to the overall continuity. With that said, this version of the Sannin 'might' reappear, but not as anything serious.**

**#4 – Thanks: I'd like to give a big thanks to Kagaseo for allowing me the use of Money-sama for this fic. May the True Plague bless thyself so as no Logs may darken thy path… But seriously many thanks to him, and you all should read his works, especially 'Echoes' to which Money-sama's crusade against the Log began.**

**Anyways read, review, watch out for any fallen Logs that may bar your path, and have a great day. Til next Chapter...**


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